Motyl: The resilience of Ukrainians, despite Yanukovych
Nothing quite lifts my spirits about Ukraine’s liberal-democratic prospects like an extended trip to the country. Reading the websites and blogs leaves me feeling pessimistic and bilious. The news is usually bad—Ukraine’s journalists know how to dig up the Yanukovych regime’s seemingly endless supplies of dirt—and the popular response often seems too anemic: a demonstration here, a flag-waving collection of irate citizens there, and little else. As persuaded as I am that the regime is incompetent, weak, brittle, and doomed, it’s sometimes hard to escape the conclusion that, just maybe, it’s my hopes and expectations and theoretical schemes that are incompetent, weak, brittle, and doomed.
And then I visit the country and interact with its people and come away feeling that so boorish and cloddish a regime can’t possibly survive long when facing so smart and resilient a population.